Carrie Johnson

She covers a wide variety of stories about justice issues, law enforcement and legal affairs for NPR's flagship programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as the Newscasts and NPR.org.

While in this role, Johnson has chronicled major challenges to the landmark voting rights law, a botched law enforcement operation targeting gun traffickers along the Southwest border, and the Obama administration's deadly drone program for suspected terrorists overseas.

Prior to coming to NPR in 2010, Johnson worked at the Washington Post for 10 years, where she closely observed the FBI, the Justice Department and criminal trials of the former leaders of Enron, HealthSouth and Tyco. Earlier in her career, she wrote about courts for the weekly publication Legal Times.

Outside of her role at NPR, Johnson regularly moderates or appears on legal panels for the American Bar Association, the American Constitution Society, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and others. She's talked about her work on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, PBS, and other outlets.

Her work has been honored with awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. She has been a finalist for the Loeb award for financial journalism and for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for team coverage of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.

Johnson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Benedictine University in Illinois.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Under President Obama, the U.S. Justice Department has focused on civil rights. For the past eight years, its lawyers have made investigating discrimination in police departments and advancing protections for LGBT people top priorities. Once Donald Trump becomes president in January, the Justice Department's agenda could be very different. Here's NPR's Carrie Johnson. CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Transitions between...

The advice President Obama has offered his successor is mostly under wraps. But the outgoing commander-in-chief made a point of going on the record with this wisdom for President-elect Donald Trump: hire a good lawyer and listen to him. Trump has selected elections expert Don McGahn as his new White House counsel. McGahn will have a lot of work to do, mostly behind the scenes. Veterans of the office said if the White House counsel is doing their job the right way, hardly anyone knows their...

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Donald McGahn, a longtime Washington lawyer who once led the Federal Election Commission, to be his White House counsel, his transition team announced Friday. "Don has a brilliant legal mind, excellent character and a deep understanding of constitutional law," Trump said in a statement, referring to the lawyer who served as both his campaign and transition attorney. "He will play a critical role in our administration, and I am grateful that he is...

Updated at 11:45 a.m. ET President-elect Donald Trump announced his selections today for three key posts: Michael Flynn for national security adviser, Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA director. Trump's selections signal that he is prioritizing loyalty as he chooses nominees for top posts — turning to people who were early and outspoken supporters of his campaign. Sessions is a former U.S. attorney and current senator with lengthy experience with the Justice...

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are considering whether to retain FBI Director James Comey after the agency became an issue in one of the most divisive campaigns in modern history, three sources told NPR. Comey has nearly seven years left to serve in his 10-year term. The FBI director's position extends beyond the term of any single president to help insulate the bureau from political forces as it pursues sensitive criminal and national security investigations. But that arrangement...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. DAVID GREENE, HOST: Everybody knows when you are accused of a crime, you get a lawyer. But in practice, that is not the case for thousands of kids. The Justice Department says about half the young people locked up in detention facilities never had an attorney. And now, a new report finds that even when juveniles do get legal advice, it often comes from lawyers who urge them to plead guilty. Here's NPR's Carrie Johnson. CARRIE JOHNSON...

Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States, the capstone of a tumultuous and divisive campaign that won over white voters with the promise to "Make America Great Again." Trump crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold at 2:31 a.m. ET with a victory in Wisconsin, according to Associated Press projections. The rise of Trump, a candidate with no prior experience in the military or elected office, confounded nearly everyone in politics. Improbably, the real estate scion...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The Justice Department plans to deploy 500 people to watch polling places tomorrow for Election Day. That's a big decrease from the last presidential contest in 2012. Here with us to talk about the issues is NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Hey, Carrie. CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hey, Ari. SHAPIRO: The Justice Department has said that voter protection is one of its top priorities. So why is it sending out...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Just four days before Election Day, the FBI, which is supposed to be independent, finds itself a key player in the presidential race. Director James Comey broke with protocol when he told Congress a week ago that investigators had found emails. He said those messages appeared to be related to the Bureau's investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a personal server while she was secretary of state. Here to discuss...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: And NPR's Carrie Johnson is still here in the studio with us. You cover the FBI. And tell us. How is the FBI director responding to the kind of criticism we just heard from Richard Painter? CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: James Comey hasn't said anything at all publicly, Ari, since that bombshell letter on Friday, but longtime friends are telling me he felt boxed in. He testified at least twice to Congress that the Clinton...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Just days before the presidential election, the FBI is rushing to review thousands of emails that could relate to the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private server. Authorities are trying to determine if they contain classified information. FBI Director James Comey is facing criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike for his brief letter to Congress that publicly announced the newly discovered emails. In a...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: The biggest controversy haunting Hillary Clinton's campaign has been given new life. The FBI investigation into Clinton's private email server is not over. More than three months after the Justice Department finished the probe with no criminal charges, the FBI director dropped a bombshell. James Comey told Congress, FBI agents have discovered emails that appear to be related to a review of classified information...

The public may soon get its first glimpse at the former National Security Agency contractor who allegedly embarked on a 20-year campaign to take home national security secrets, an effort the Justice Department calls "breathtaking in its longevity and scale." Harold T. Martin III is expected to appear at a federal courthouse in Baltimore on Friday for a hearing to consider whether he should remain in U.S. custody, as prosecutors announced in a court filing that they plan to file Espionage Act...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: The man once known as President Obama's favorite general pleaded guilty to a felony charge. He's retired four-star Marine General James Cartwright. He admits to making false statements to FBI agents as they probed media leaks. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson was at the courthouse in Washington for the guilty plea. She's on the line. Hi, Carrie. CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve. INSKEEP: How...